By David Bird Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Crude oil futures prices, after falling briefly below $ 83 a barrel, as the Federal Reserve chairman didn't signal a policy change, slashed losses at mid-morning as equities rebounded. In whipsaw trading evocative of Hurricane Irene's winds, which threaten to batter the Northeast U.S. on Sunday, prices gyrated in a sharp $2 a barrel range while the dollar danced against major currencies. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke didn't signal a fresh round of economic stimulus in a widely anticipated speech, sending crude down below $83 a barrel for the first time since Monday. Bernanke told the central bank's annual meeting that the Fed's policy would be based on incoming economic data, rather than an aggressive move to a third round of economic stimulus. With the clouds of uncertainty over Bernanke's speech now parted, traders again focused on the potentially punishing Hurricane Irene, which was on course to hit the New York area on Sunday. Light, sweet crude oil for October delivery fell to a low of $82.95 a barrel, the weakest intraday price since Monday, before rebounding. At near 11 a.m. ET, crude was down 10 cents at $85.44 a barrel. ICE October Brent was 22 cents higher at $110. 84 a barrel. Traders said they expected prices could go nervously higher into the storm- rattled weekend and a Monday holiday in London. Gasoline futures trimmed steep losses seen earlier Friday but were still down as traders kept an eye on Irene. Gasoline futures soared 3.1% on Thursday as players covered positions ahead of Irene and its possible impact on deliveries linked to the September contract, which expires Wednesday. Hurricane Irene remains a Category 2 storm early Friday, still on track to make landfall in North Carolina on Saturday morning as it continues up the heavily populated U.S. eastern seaboard and a likely encounter with the New York City area sometime Sunday, the National Hurricane Center reported. The NHC advisory showed Irene's path unchanged from earlier forecasts and set for a run along the East Coast while maintaining hurricane strength. After passing along North Carolina's Atlantic coast Saturday, Irene is expected to pass just to the east of the Washington, D.C., area and continue along the Delaware and New Jersey coasts toward New York on Sunday. New England also remains in the hurricane's direct path. Six refineries with a combined crude oil refining capacity of 1.3 million barrels a day are in the path of the storm. Traders said if Irene doesn't damage refineries, terminals, vessels or pipelines, the market will be left again with extremely weak supply-demand fundamentals that will pressure prices lower. "Demand doesn't remain very healthy," said Kyle Cooper, managing partner at IAF Energy Advisors in Houston. "To see us at around 19 million barrels a day is pretty poor for this time of year." Cooper said while the overall U.S. economy "is not great, but not horrible either, the energy economy is clearly in recession." He said he expects a peaceful aftermath to Irene would knock crude prices down to the mid-$70 a barrel last seen in September. September reformulated gasoline blendstock futures, which jumped nearly 9 cents a gallon on Thursday, were down 2.80 cents, at $2.9399 a gallon, off the low of $2.9110. September heating oil futures were 0.55 cent higher at $2.9910 a gallon, after a low of $2.959 a gallon.

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